Rejection of polls: Tough battle before Tribunal as APC appoints 13 SANs to defend Tinubu
…Tinubu seeks court to access sensitive materials for defence
…I refused to congratulate Tinubu because election was grossly flawed, contentious — Kwankwaso
…As INEC releases full list of members-elect of 10th NASS
By Moses Adeniyi
To defend its presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, over his emergence as Preesident-elect following his declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as winner of the Saturday February 25 presidential election, the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Tuesday, in Abuja, assembled a team of seasoned lawyers to represent it at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
The contentions of election petitions at the Tribunal may be portending a tough legal battle as parties opposing the declaration of Tinubu by INEC as winner of the poll and presenting to him certificate of return as President-elect have drawn attention with arrays of prayers flowing before the court.
On Tuesday seasoned senior lawyers whose services were engaged by APC are in the ranks of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN).
APC National Legal Adviser, Ahmad El-Marzuq, in a statement on Tuesday expressed confidence in their competence, mentioning the choice of the legal luminaries forming the team, was carefully selected giving consideration to their vast experience in election petition matters, constitutional law and litigation.
He disclosed that the legal team, consisting of 13 SANs, was led by renowned lawyer, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, whom he said successfully handled various high-profile election matters and other landmark cases.
He expressed confidence that the legal team possesses the requisite expertise and experience to ensure a successful outcome for the APC in the Presidential Election Petition matters.
He urged members of the APC to support the team in its effort to defend the will and mandate of the people at the February 25 presidential election.
He also called on all parties involved to conduct themselves with the utmost professionalism and respect for the rule of law throughout the legal process.
The legal team includes – Lateef Fagbemi (Lead Counsel); Ahmad El-Marzuq (Life Bencher); Sam Ologunorisa; Rotimi Oguneso; Olabisi Syebo; Gboyega Oyewole; Muritala Abdulrasheed; Aliyu Saiki; Tajudeen Oladoja; Pius Akubo; Oluseye Opasanya; Suraju Saida and Kazeem Adeniyi.
Frontline contenders with Tinubu at the presidential poll which include the duo of Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Mr Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), who were defeated at the polls, have declared their resolve to explore legal mechanisms to challenge the outcome of the election in court, alleging electoral fraud.
Both PDP and LP had since rejected the outcome of the election and vowed to challenge it in court.
Recall INEC in early hours of last Wednesday had declared Tinubu, candidate of the APC, as the winner of the election and President-elect of the presidential poll held on February 25.
According to results announced by INEC, Tinubu of the APC polled 8,794,726 to defeat Atiku of PDP with 6,884,520 votes, while Peter Obi of Labour Party and Sen Rabiu Kwankwaso of New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) recorded 6,101,533 in third position and 1,496,687 votes (4th position) respectively.
The margin between Tinubu who polled 8,794,726 votes and Obi who polled 6,101,533 is over 2.6million votes.
Atiku, 76, who has now run for presidency race six times, polled 6,984,520 votes, ahead of Obi who polled 6,101,533.
Tinubu, Atiku, and Obi led in 12 States each, while Kwakwaso of NNPP led only in one State (Kano).
Recall during the collation process there had been protests against INEC, with demands that the Commission upload the results on the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
In a related development, agents of the PDP and other opposition parties had staged a walk out of the International Collation Centre in protest. Demostrations had trailed the development by demonstrators demanding INEC to electronically upload the results against manual collation adopted by the Commission.
Meanwhile, in his reaction, Atiku had last Thursday rejected the declaration of Tinubu as winner of the presidential polls, arguing that the level of “manipulation and fraud that attended this election was unprecedented in the history of our nation.”
Atiku last Thursday, in his first media briefing in Abuja, after the poll, described the process as flawed – “a rape of democracy” which he said “must be challenged.”
Under the Electoral Act 2022, any candidate dissatisfied with the return made by the INEC, shall within 21 days after the date of the declaration of the result of the election, file a petition before the tribunal.
An election tribunal shall deliver its judgement in writing within 180 days from the date the petition was filed.
Atiku rejecting the outcome of the election had while knocking INEC for what he described as conducting the “worst” election in Nigeria’s history, said the outcome would contested in Court.
Recall the leadership of PDP and its PCC had said they were still searching and consulting for a legal team that would handle the petition of Atiku’s petition at the presidential election tribunal.
The party said the filing of his petition would start immediately after inspection of the election materials.
Recall the PDP and LP and their respective candidates, Atiku and Obi had approached the Court of Appeal urging the Court to compel INEC to allow them obtain documents used for the presidential election to aid their petitions against the outcome of the presidential election.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja last Friday granted leave to Obi, and his PDP counterpart, Atiku, to have access to all the sensitive materials used by INEC for the conduct of the Feb. 25 presidential election.
A panel of the appellate court led by Justice Joseph Ikyegh made the order after hearing two separate ex parte applications the two aggrieved presidential candidates filed alongside their political parties.
Specifically, the applicants urged the court to compel INEC to allow them to obtain documents used for the presidential election to aid their petitions against the outcome of the presidential election.
They sought “an order granting the applicants’ permission to do electronic scanning and make photocopies of voter registration and ballot papers used in the conduct of the election for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria held on the Feb. 25.
“An order granting leave to the applicants to carry out Digital Forensic Inspection of BVAS machines used for the conduct of the Feb. 25 election for the Office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The plaintiffs also sought an order restraining INEC “from tampering with the information embedded in the BVAS machines until due inspection was conducted and Certified True Copies of them issued.”
The Court, in its consideration, ordered INEC to allow the applicants to inspect all the electoral materials used in the conduct of the presidential election.
The Court permitted the appellants to do electronic scanning and or make photocopies of voter registration and ballot papers used in the conduct of the presidential election.
“That leave is hereby granted to the applicants to carry out Digital Forensic Inspection of BVAS machines used for the conduct of the Feb. 25, 2023 Election for the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” the Court ordered.
Cited as respondents in the matter were INEC, the declared winner of the presidential election, Tinubu, as well as his party, the APC.
Both applications were predicated on Section146 (1) of the Electoral Act 2022, Paragraph 47 (1, 2 &3) of the First Schedule of the Electoral Act of 2022, as well as under the inherent jurisdiction of the Court as referenced by Section 6 (6) A & B of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
While Obi, in his application marked CA/PEC/02M/23, which was moved by his team of lawyers led by Mr. Alex Ejesieme (SAN), sought six principal reliefs, Atiku’s lawyer, Mr. Adedamola Faloku, sought seven prayers from the tribunal.
Consequent upon the order, INEC on Monday approached the Court of Appeal in Abuja for an order to allow it reconfigure its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the March 11 State elections.
The Commission’s resort to the Court, was in reaction to pray it to vary the orders it granted for candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and the Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi to be allowed to inspect sensitive materials that were used for the presidential election.
INEC, in its legal process dated March 4, urged the appellate court, which will sit as the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, to vary the order to enable it to reconfigure the BVAS it used for the presidential poll.
The Commission told the Court that the configuration was necessary since the BVAS would also be deployed for the next round of elections, which include the governorship and state assemblies elections billed for Saturday, as well as other rescheduled elections.
According to INEC, without a prompt variation of the inspection order granted to Obi and Atiku, especially the aspect restraining it from tampering with formation contained in the BVAS, it would be difficult for it to proceed with the scheduled elections.
…Tinubu seeks court to access sensitive materials for defence
Furthering his defence in the legal battle against him, Tinubu, on Tuesday, approached the Court of Appeal in Abuja, praying it to order the INEC to grant him access to sensitive materials it used for the presidential election which the Commission declared him the winner.
Tinubu, through his lawyer, Mr Akintola Makinde, said he would need to inspect, scan and make photocopies of some of the electoral materials to enable him to prepare his defence against petitions that would seek to nullify his election.
“The materials will be relevant in helping us to prepare our defence and also make comparison with the information contained in INEC’s back-end server,” Makinde added.
While Tinubu’s first ex-parte application, which was filed on March 6, has the LP and its presidential candidate, Obi as respondents, in the second application, the PDP, and its own candidate, Atiku, were cited as respondents, alongside INEC.
The appellate court, which will sit as the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal, deferred ruling on Tinubu’s application till Wednesday.
…I refused to congratulate Tinubu because election was grossly flawed, contentious — Kwankwaso
Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso has denied congratulating Tinubu after his declaration by INEC as President-elect, stating he declined because the presidential election was grossly flawed, contentious and disputed.
In a statement by the spokesman of NNPP, Dr Agbo Major, on Tuesday, Kwankwaso rejected the outcome of the February 25, 2023, presidential election, saying it did not reflect the will, wish and mandate of the Nigerians
He said, “The New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) presidential candidate, Engr. Rabiu Kwankwaso did not congratulate the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu on the grossly flawed, contentious and disputed presidential election.
“The report that Engr. Kwankwaso congratulated Tinubu is a figment of the imagination of anti-democrats, political hirelings and fifth columnists leveraging on the popularity of the party’s presidential flag bearer.
“NNPP rejects the outcome of the February 25, 2023, presidential election as it did not reflect the will, wish and mandate of the Nigerians who trooped out to vote but were disappointed by the failure of INEC to conduct the credible and transparent election and fulfil its promise to upload the Polling Units results to its portals which would have guaranteed the authenticity of the results and declaration of the winner of the presidential election.
“Sadly, the presidential poll turned out to be a charade as it failed to meet the expectation of Nigerians and the international community. NNPP was a target of these electoral robbers who want the status quo to remain, in place of the new and better Nigeria the party promised if voted into office.
“It is unthinkable that Engr. Kwankwaso would hastily congratulate Asiwaju Tinubu on his questionable mandate which other candidates also claimed they won and had approached the court to seek redress.
“All lovers of democracy, due process and rule of law will wait for the determination of the election petitions in courrt.
“Until the court decides them one way or the other, it will be preposterous for NNPP which was rigged out in most of its strongholds across the country to concede defeat and congratulate INEC’s imposed ‘winner.’
“The mood of the nation since the electoral body mischievously declared Tinubu the ‘winner’ of the election clearly showed that it was justice juxtaposed, absolutely unacceptable to the majority of Nigerians who desire and deserve a new Nigeria which only the NNPP can usher in.
“March 11 is another date with destiny as Nigerians go to the polls to choose their governors and State legislators. It is yet another opportunity to vote for NNPP candidates for a better, greater and prosperous Nigeria. Join us to make it happen and experience a better life.”
…INEC releases full list of members-elect of 10th NASS
Meanwhile as INEC suffers knocks over February 25 presidential and National Assembly polls, the Commission on Tuesday released the full list of members-elect of the 10th Senate and the lower chamber, the House of Representatives.
A new set of members surfaced alongside returning members, to make up the Red and Green chambers of the National Assembly.
In the list however, eight names are missing, as the Commission noted that supplementary elections will be held in affected Senatorial districts, which include; Enugu East, Kebbi North, Plateau Central, Sokoto East, North and South, Yobe South and Zamfara Central.
For the 10th House of Representatives, among new comers set for the House of Reps are 34 members of the Labour Party, who defeated contestants of the APC and PDP to create a path for the Labour Party to further strengthen its presence in the National Assembly.
